


Just One in Thousands

by TheArchaeologist



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt, Family, Family Feels, Feels, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, I've heard the last name 'Katz' for Dave so that's what I went with, M/M, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 19:46:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18268166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArchaeologist/pseuds/TheArchaeologist
Summary: Take the idea that Five is followed by all his victims from his time at the Commission, and take the idea that Five is responsible for Dave’s death, and what do you get?Pain.Pain is what you get.





	Just One in Thousands

Despite what Ben says, getting sober sucks.

Without the tingle of drugs or the numbness of alcohol fizzing around his system, Klaus is treated to every kind of spectre roaming the streets wandering into his room at God knows when as if they own the place. They are never polite about it either, always complaining and screaming about something Klaus didn't care about, and no matter how many times he and Ben try to shoo them away they always find their way back.

It was like living with a newly brought home puppy, only less cuteness and more gore. Also, the puppy has mastered human speech and wails a lot.

At best it was an annoyance, at worst Klaus can barely function. 

And, as much as Klaus loves his dearest little brother, Five is one of the worst of his siblings to suffer the presence of.

They all have ghosts floating around after them, a by-product of living as child superheroes with a grey area around moral ambiguity, but at most they have, perhaps, ten or so each? Diego has the most, at around twenty-something. 

The ghosts were never all in the same room, so it was hard to allocate which sibling had which screaming person.

But then there was Five.

Sweet, innocent Five.

He has told them he is a killer, he says it weekly. Daily. _Hourly_. He hisses it when they help him reach the top shelf and growls it when they drag him around the children’s section at stores in search of clothes that _fit._

But whenever Klaus looked at him and tried to put two and two together, he always got...Well, five. 

However, as he becomes sober, and as the threat of the entire world no longer sat on their shoulders in the same suffocating manner as dear old Dad, it was much, much harder to miscalculate the entourage that stalked the halls after a kid who still had a roundness of baby fat to his face.

“Whoa, is there a party I don't know about?” Klaus finds himself saying, because the fact that he’s sober does nothing to impact his impulse control.

“Hm?” Five barely glances up from his book. How he is reading and walking without bumping into every door or table Klaus has no idea.

He swallows, watching as all eyes snap towards him, as if it was his fault that they were dead. “Fuck me, that's a lot...”

“A lot of what?” Klaus jumps as Five materialises beside him, causing all the ghosts to shuffle over. That must be fun, Klaus absently ponders, trying to keep up with Five. What do they do when he jumps across town? Get a bus?

“Ghosts, Five.” He indicates to the crowded hallway. “You can barely move in here.”

Something twists on Five’s face, and he makes a soft, “Oh,” sound, his eyes quickly darting around what would be an empty space for him. Klaus crosses his arms over his chest, feeling the familiar dog tags dig into his skin.

Five briefly bites his lip. “Can you,” He makes an aborted hand gesture, “Exorcise them, or something?”

“Not really…” Klaus bobs his head about, trying not to make too much eye contact and encourage the impromptu flash mob to come even closer to him. “Ben’s been trying to help, but Daddy dearest never taught me, so it’s trial and error.”

Ben’s theories have, so far, been only that. 

Talking to them just made them mad because Klaus could never completely follow what they were saying, explaining that he couldn’t pass on messages to people from the sixteenth century caused them to scream, and trying to push them away just made them push back.

“I see.” Five seems put off by the fact, and Klaus can’t decide if he’s unnerved by the presence of the ghosts or the fact that Klaus can see his victims. After a pause, Five adds, somewhat quieter, “Sorry, I didn’t realise-”

“Nah,” Klaus waves him off, “Everyone has them, being sober just sucks.”

Five doesn’t brighten at that, his fingers absently playing with the corner of book in his hand. The ghosts continue to watch Five, some of them fidgeting now that he has, for once, stood still. Klaus half expects them to start sitting down. Can ghosts get tired? He wouldn’t blame them. He’s had days where he’s shadowed his brother around town and it’s usually one of the few times he ends up sleeping through the night.

Klaus is about to voice this, about to bring up the idea of the ghosts on the bus to try and lighten the slightly sullen mood a bit, when his gaze catches one phantom stood towards the back.

He is taller than Klaus, his shoulders broader, and his hair is stuck up in so many stupid angles it’s almost funny. 

Klaus forgets to breath. “Dave?”

Five says something to that, but Klaus pays it little mind as he watches the man he knows so well, _still_ dressed in that dirty uniform splattered with blood, stare down his brother with uninterested eyes, nothing more than another face in the world’s worse club.

He’s not there for Klaus, he’s there for _Five._

Five, the time travelling assassin.

“Do you…” Klaus swallows down the thump he threatens to choke on. “Do you ever remember the names of the people you killed?”

The question is enough to concern Five, who tries to cover it over with indifference. “Why? Would that help send them on?”

“Just tell me.” He says, and damn, he feels _tired._

Five really is uncomfortable now, even without looking at him Klaus can hear the hesitation, the anticipation of something unpleasant. It makes his stomach twist, and for a split second he is so sure that he’s going to throw up.

“A few, but there was…A lot.” Moving from foot to foot, Five glances around himself again.

“What about Dave Katz?”

And it makes sense that Five’s face is frowning in confusion, because Klaus never told him Dave’s name, and he never really told him about Vietnam either, unless he heard about it through the grapevine and had decided not to push for details.

“Katz…Dave Katz…” Five mulls the name over, and Klaus watches, vision blurring with hot tears as Dave perks at the mention of his name. Five’s hands grip hard on the spine of his book, making it creak. After a dragged out second, he very slowly nods. “Yes, I think so.”

And Klaus can only bark a high, hysterical laugh at that, because how fucking poetic is this? His one piece of happiness, of _course_ it was taken away by his goddamn family. Why the hell not? It has taken everything else away from him, his life, his mental stability, why not Dave?

“Yeah, _really_ hate to tell you this, old man, but…” Klaus jingles his dog tags, and he _knows_ that Five recognises their significance, because he goes dead still, practically freezing as Klaus laughs again, dissolving into giggles.

“Klaus…”

“You know what? I don’t want this conversation right now.” Because his baby brother _murdered_ the one person Klaus ever cared for more than himself. “So kindly piss off somewhere else.”

Five audibly gulps, his eyes wide and fixed on the dog tags. “Klaus, I-”

_“Fuck off!”_

He’s gone in a flash of blue, and the ghosts all look at each other wearily before marching off down the hall, Dave going along with them, not even paying attention to the other living person still in the hallway.

Not looking at Klaus as he stumbles into the nearest bathroom, violently vomiting his breakfast into the porcelain toilet.

Not looking at Klaus as he slides to the floor, harsh sobs constricting his chest so hard it _hurts._

Not looking at Klaus as he locks the door and spends the rest of the day curled up on the cool bathroom floor, ignoring the soft words from Ben and the sounds of knocking.

And the next morning, when the house wakes to find Five packed and gone, Klaus seeks out his dealer.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was fun!
> 
> What was that? No it wasn't?
> 
> Oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> [Tumblr](https://ancientstone.tumblr.com/)


End file.
